half of fresh butter, and a pint of correction, if they are found exyeast is added to half a bushel of posing themselves to the inclemen fine flour; the whole is tempered cies of the weather, I, for one, Sir, with new milk, pretty hot, and am much surprised that it should being left for half an hour, it is permit this exhibition by Mr. made into loaves or rolls, and Henry; and can only account for baked in an oven, which is not too its negligence, by supposing that much heated. The salt serves to it is not so learned in chemistry as make the flour retain more water, it is in morality and theology, and and makes the dough lighter; it is ignorant that what he calls the makes the bread keep longer also, laughing gas is a fluid, which, at a and corrects some of the bad qua- small expense, produces a most lities of spoiled wheat. The Lon- delightful, though transient state don bakers, it is asserted also, put of intoxication. The exhibitor, alum into the bread, which contri- probably, had an eye to concealbutes to its whiteness and light- ment when he called it laughing gas; ness, but is thought to render the had he called it nitrous oxide, the bread less wholesome. The quan- President of the Royal Society, tity of this drug is increased as the who was the first to get excessively flour is bad, and from four to eight tipsy by inhaling this fluid, and the ounces to a sack are used. We Poet-laureat, (Mr. Southey) who, cannot close this Article, without at one period, drank largely of it, recommending to such of our read--though the influence of any rapers as have the opportunity, to investigate closely the chemical changes which go on in the process of bread making, analysing the dough at the different stages, for at present there is no very correct knowledge on the subject. CHEAP DRUNKENNESS. (From a Correspondent.) MOST of your metropolitan readers, Mr. Editor, must have learned from the newspapers, that a Mr. Henry nightly amuses the audience of the Adelphi Theatre, by exhibiting people under the influence of the laughing gas. When we are every day made sensible of the fatherly care the government takes of the people, checking drunkenness, by increasing the tax on ardent spirits; removing all temptations to sin, by putting down danc-" ing-houses, glee-clubs, fairs, and private theatricals, and encourag ing holiness of life by building churches and paying parsons; keeping from the unsullied minds of the people all knowledge of evil, by stopping the circulation of books not approved of by the Vice-suppress ing and Tract Societies; forbidding them to break their necks, by breaking down stage-coaches with their weight, and providing them with comfortable lodgings in houses of ture-inspiring drink is not very The purser was closely examined, but he was quite positive that not one of the seamen had received a drop more than his allowance; the hold and the spirit-room were carefully inspected, but not a hole was found large enough for a mouse to creep through: consequently no toper could have reached the rum casks; and if the mouth could only be kept shut after grog has been taken in, the secret might not have been discovered till this time, and the nation might have been vanquished, invaded, and destroyed, by a cheap mode of getting drunk. One of those who could neither sit nor stand, (walking was quite out of the question) betrayed the secret. After drinking his grog, he boasted that he placed himself on his head, with his heels in the air, till the liquor took full effect, and he became glorious and oblivious. Standing on the head was immediately put a stop to, and the Individual who had discovered this great improvement in the arts, and great saving of labour, having been found out, he received flogging enough to keep him sober at least till he got out of the hospital. If the poor sailors had only known of Sir Humphrey Davy and Mr. Southey's mode of committing excesses, they might have enjoyed theirelysium unflogged till this time; for the drunkenness which they indulged seldom goes so far as to make a man unfit for muscular exertion. Their mode was to breathe, nitrous oxide, or the laughing gas of Mr. Henry. As your readers may wish to learn this mode of intoxicating themselves, to the ruin of Messrs. Hodges and Barclay, and all the fraternities of distillers and brewers, I shall now communicate this agreeable information. Let them, then, purchase some of the salt, known to chemists by the name of nitrat of ammonia, (I believe they may tipple for a week for the value of two-pence) put it into a glass retort, and apply to it the flame of an argand lamp. When the temperature reaches 400° of Fahrenheit, a whitish cloud will begin to project itself into the neck of the retort, accompanied by a copious evolution of gas. This gas is nitrous oxide. It should be received into a bladder, from which atmospheric air has been previously, as much as possible, excluded by mechanical means, such as twisting the bladder together, allowing the air to escape; and the bladder should have a pretty wide glass tube affixed to its mouth. A silk bag will answer as well as a bladder, but it is more expensive. A large bladder is however requisite, as it takes a few quarts of the nitrous oxide to produce a full and proper effect, and it must be inspired two or three minutes. Having thus collected the gas, which is of a sweetish taste, possessing all the mechanical properties of air, it may be easily breathed; but care must be taken not to be in a hurry, as the terror people feel sometimes prevents the gas from having its proper effect. If this gas be breathed for two or three minutes, a most agreeable intoxication is produced, which strengthens and invigorates the body as well as the mind, and leaves no lassitude or blue devils, or head-aches requiring soda-water, behind. But as your readers may not trust me, I shall transcribe for them Sir H. Davy and Mr. Southey's account, the latter being of course by far the most poetical. The former says, "Having previously closed my nostrils and exhausted my lungs, I breathed four quarts of nitrous oxide from and into a silk bag. The first feelings were those of giddiness, but in less than a minute, the respiration being continued, they diminished gradually, and were succeeded by a sensation, analagous to gentle pressure on all the muscles, attended by a highly pleasurable thrilling, particularly in the chest and the extremities. The objects around me became dazzling, and my hearing more acute. Towards the last inspiration the thrilling increased, the sense of muscular power became greater, and, at last, an irresistible propensity to action was indulged in. I recollect but indistinctly what followed. I know that my motions were various and violent. These effects very soon ceased after respiration. In ten minutes I had recovered my natural state of mind." Mr. Southey felt first a fulness and dizziness in the head, such as to induce a fear of falling. This was succeeded by a laugh, which was involuntary, but highly pleasurable, accompanied with a peculiar thrilling in the extremi ties, a sensation perfectly new and delightful. For many hours he imagined that his taste and smell were more active, and certainly felt unusually strong and cheerful. In a second experiment he felt pleasure still superior; and once poetically remarked, that he supposed the atmosphere of the highest of all possible heavens to be composed of this gas. Mr. Wedgewood, after breathing this gas, threw the bag from him, and kept breathing on laboriously with an open mouth, holding his nose with his left hand, without power to take it away, though aware of the ludicrousness of his situation. All his muscles seemed to be thrown into vibrating motions; he had a violent inclination to make antic gestures, seemed lighter than the atmosphere, and as if about to mount. Before the experiment he was a good deal fatigued by a long ride; but after the experiment every trace of fatigue had vanished. In a second and third experiments, the same effects were perceived, only that the pleasure was in the third much greater than in the two others. Indeed, Sir H. Davy, who has fuddled himself pretty often with this gas, declares that it is far better French wines or Dutch gin; the corn which is now consumed to make beer, and the sugar which is converted into rum, may both be employed to nourish an increased number of people; and the world may bid defiance to Mr. Malthu and his gloomy doctrines, as long as it has such resources in store as the immense tracts of land now every where employed in producing the materials for making strong drink. I understand, Sir, if the government shows no inclination to check this manufacture by a heavy stamp duty, and while the present liberal notions as to freedom of trade prevail in the cabinet this is not expected, there are to be two or three manufactories of this gas established in different places. The individuals will not, however, be required to go through the terrific process of applying their mouths to bags or bladders, but will just pass through an elegant room, constructed on the gasometer principle, the doors of which are to be valves. I shall not enter further into details, but only remark, that though signs, as in former times, may be necessary to point out the spots where men may get cheaply drunk, it will not be necessary to add "clean straw provided;" for this is so pleasant a mode of losing one's senses, that a stage may be necessary for the exhibition of the merry-andrew tricks of the inspired; but no sleeping apartments will be requisite. I am, Sir, Yours obediently, ANTI-DRAM. than champagne, as it not only TANNIN IN CHESNUT-TREE gives a more intense pleasure, but leaves no head-ache, and does not diminish in its effects from repeated use. Mr. J. W. Tobin said, his sensations were exquisite, quite indescribable; and that he felt his strength permanently increased by it. Here then, Sir, is abundant testimony to the superiority of this as an inebriating fluid. The advantages for the public will be as great as for the individuals. There will be no occasion to import BARK. IT is announced in a German journal, that the bark of the ches~ nut-tree (Castanea vesca of Wildenow, Fagus castanea, Linn.) contains twice as much tannin as that of the oak, and gives with sulphat of iron a very fine black ink. The colour furnished by the tan of chesnut bark is less susceptible of change, by the influence of the sun and rain, than that which is given by sumac. HYDROGEN GAS LAMPS. At a time when there is a good deal said about these lamps, we must acknowledge our obligation to the intelligent Correspondent who has directed our attention to the one here described; though not having the book he mentions on our own shelves, and, in fact, never having seen it, we can do no more than insert his communication. To the Editor of the Chemist. SIR,-In the Philosophical Maga zine for last October, (No. 306) page 283, it is represented, that the hydrogen gas lamp, improved by M. Gay-Lussac, is very convenient for making Mr. Dobereiner's experiment; that is, of directing a stream or jet of hydrogen gas upon a piece of spongy platinum, so as to ignite the metal. Now, as this kind of apparatus is more simple, instantaneous, and effectual than the one of Mr. Phillips's, described in your laudable CHEMIST, No. III. page 33, myself, and no doubt others, your readers, would be obliged to any of your correspondents for a figure and description of this improved lamp of M. GayLussac's. An elegant and perfect hydrogen as lamp, acting by the electric spark from an electrophorous, after Volta's principle, was some years ago constructed by Mr. William Jones, of Holborn, the eminent optician, which he published a figure of, in his edition of Adams's Lectures, vol. 5, plate 7, fig. 6, a sketch of which I add; but the addition of a zinc cylinder, and possibly other differences, by GayLussac, may have farther improved this very curious instrument. A CONSTANT READER. TO MAKE CHALYBEATE WATER. Ir a few pieces of silver be placed alternately with pieces of sheet iron, so as to form a small pile, and be immersed in water, the fluid soon acquires the taste of iron, and becomes of a yellowish hue. In 24 hours flakes of oxide of iron appear. By replenishing the vessel, in which such a pile is placed, with water after every draught, we may have a very good substispring. Clean copper plates would tute for a perpetual chalybeate answer instead of silver, or a clean rod; but this is rather dangerous, copper wire entwined on an iron and silver should be preferred.— Phil. Mag. EFFECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE ON THE RATES OF CHRONOMETERS. (From the Annals of Philosophy.) MR. HARVEY, F.R.S.E., has lately. discovered, that the density of the medium in which a chronometer is placed, has a sensible influence on its rate, in most cases producing an acceleration when the density is diminished, and a retardation when the density is increased. A difference of density denoted by an inch of quicksilver is sufficient to produce in many chronometers a visible alteration of the rate. Mr. H. therefore concludes, that a chronometer constructed at London, nearly on a level with the sea, would undergo an alteration of rate from difference of atmospheric pressure, if transported to Geneva or Mexico, or any other place much above the level of the sea. с To the Editor of the Chemist. SIR, Observing in your last an account of three different blowpipes, I herewith transmit you a plan for a self-acting perpetual one, which might be of great use in some operations in mineralogy, where a continued blast is required, since, unlike the spirit blow-pipe, it is worked free of any expense whatever. The figure is intended to represent a section of two cubical vessels, together with tubes bent in the shape there represented, open at the ends, ab, and tapering to fine jets at d. These two vessels are connected together by the tube, c, and are each furnished with a valve, opening inwards, as in the sketch. If now the upper vessel be nearly filled with mercury, (water will do if the machine be large, but if small mercury must be used), as represented in the figure, the mercury, by its descent into the lower vessel, will force the air from thence through the aperture, a, and out at the jet, d, and will there furnish a continued blast of air, until the mercury has descended from the upper vessel into the lower one, when, by reversing the apparatus, as an hour-glass, the operation will be repeated as before, forcing a stream of air out at the jet, d. The apparatus, e, (containing a spirit-lamp and platina forceps or needle, on which the mineral or substance to be acted on is to be placed), is made to revolve on an axis at d, so as always to keep the lamp in a perpendicular position. It will readily be perceived, that if the tubes be not bent in the shape represented in the sketch, the mercury, by getting into them, would stop the action of the blow-pipe. Should this simple invention be considered as worthy of publication, it is quite at your service. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. W. L**Y. ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. (Continued from p. 85.) ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY FOR MAY. WE wish we could say that the information contained in the expensive quarterly and monthly Scientific Journals was commensurate to the cost; or, that their Editors were at pains to make them the worthy representatives of the |